AW: Cesc gamble was worth it

The win over Villa came at a price with Cesc Fabregas suffering a recurrence of a hamstring strain in the 3-0 triumph.
And in today’s Daily Mail, Arsene Wenger insisted he would not shy away from another gamble on Fabregas’s fitness after the skipper inspired to the victory. The paper reports that Fabregas came off the bench in the second half to change the game and leave us four points behind leaders Chelsea with a game in hand. United stay second after Wayne Rooney inspired them to a 3-1 win at Hull.
Fabregas lashed in a 25-yard free-kick before finishing off a quick-fire second. But he limped off soon after and watched as Abou Diaby added a third in stoppage time.
Wenger said: ‘If you can prove to me we would have won the game without him coming on, I was wrong. He adds creativity and at that moment I felt that was needed.Fabregas is happy we won the game but is concerned about his hamstring,’ said AW, who also saw Denilson forced off with a back problem.
‘We don’t know if it’s a recurrence of the pull or just scar tissue. We’ll know more about it tomorrow. If it’s scar tissue it’s a few days, if it’s a recurrence it’s three weeks.’
‘It’s a massive result when you look at where we were a few weeks ago,’ added Wenger. ‘Credit to the team, they didn’t give up when everybody had written us off. We kept going and that shows that the team have shown mental strength. It makes it interesting now. We are in a strong position.’
On the subject of buying a replacement for the injured Robin van Persie, Wenger told the paper: ‘We will keep our eyes open and if a good opportunity turns up we will do it. I will have to look maybe as well at midfielders. If we lose Denilson and Fabregas we will be short there.’
The Sun reckons AW could yet try to sign Chamakh from Bordeaux in January but would have to cough up a fee of around £5m.
A source close to the deal told the paper: “Wenger has made it clear to Marouane and his agent he still very much wants to sign him.
“But Marouane doesn’t want to go to war with Bordeaux again like he did in the summer when Arsenal didn’t match their valuation. So the player prefers to sign a pre-contract and go in the summer.”
AW is also said to be waiting to pounce for highly-rated France hitman Jimmy Briand. Rennes’ hugely-gifted secondary striker Briand, who is also fancied by Marseille, is now running down his contract.
Back to the win over Villa in tghe Mirror, and AW adds: Credit to the team, they didn’t give up when everybody was writing us off. We kept going and that shows that the team has shown mental strength and maybe the turning point was the second half at Liverpool where we could win the game.
“It makes it interesting now. We are in a strong position. We can have belief but it’s a long way to go and we have to keep our feet on the ground and continue to improve together.
“After the Chelsea game I said openly that Chelsea would drop points on the basis of what I had seen. And they did. But how many they would drop I didn’t know. I just think the Premier League is very open.”